The 99 Cents Only stores — with their pink and blue signs — will soon be no more. The company announced last week that it’s closing all 371 locations in California, Nevada, Arizona and Texas. The CEO blamed a combination of the COVID pandemic, inflation, more demand for online shopping and retail theft.
“That's the place where your friends who are trying to find crazy discounts go. That's where working-class folks go. That's where retirees go,” says Gustavo Arellano, columnist for the LA Times. “So I was just sad [when learning of the store closures]. … But I just thought geez, here's another Southern California standard.”
He describes 99 Cents Only as a “fellowship of frugality” — people of diverse ethnicities are customers, and unlike other dollar stores that tended to be located in more economically distressed areas, you could also find this chain in more affluent neighborhoods like Santa Monica and Studio City.
During a recent Sunday morning visit to the location off of Main Street near Chase Bank in Santa Ana, visitors were offering condolences to workers, he recalls.
“People [were] telling stories. ‘I've been shopping here since I was a kid. Now I'm an adult and I go there.’ ‘I've been here 20 years, I always come here to feed my family.’”
Arellano shares that he also enjoys browsing the food products at 99 Cents Only: “This off-off brand Sriracha, I wonder if I could even find it online. What is potted meat? … Anytime I could find tamales in a can, I buy it and I show it to my cousins.”
The company started in 1982 when LA resident Dave Gold opened the first 99 Cent Only branch in Westchester. His family owned the company until the 2000s. Then in 2008, 99 Cents Only made news when it raised prices by about $2.
Currently, a group of investors is trying to save 99 Cents Only. They’re led by Mark Miller, former president of Big Lots and Pic ‘N’ Save, which Arellano calls another “legendary brand” where his mom used to take him.
“This guy knows that there is a market and really a necessity for these deeply discounted places where people could still buy stuff. … I think in Southern California it was about 145 locations — they're big places. Getting rid of them is going to leave a huge hole. … We'll see.”
He adds, “So are you gonna bring back 99 Cents Only stores? The very first question people are gonna ask: Are you gonna raise the prices? Because if you're gonna raise the prices, then you're no better than a Stater Brothers [supermarkets].”